Pray Your Way Through Life

  I called my dear friend, Mike Barnett, for prayer about a bad infection and resulting surgery last month.  I was complaining about the pain – after open heart, prostate removal, radiation, artificial bladder sphincter, and aortic valve replacement procedures, I have always been off any pain meds within a few days.  I was on pain meds for 30 days and lost over 30 pounds.  I was a mess.  Mike, in his understated way, simply said: “Brother, you’re suffering for someone else”.  That Rhema Word turned my thinking about myself into what He was doing in me to prepare for ministering to patients in a hospital setting.  October 12 th , the day of surgery, was supposed to be my first day as a Volunteer Chaplain at Shelby Baptist Hospital.  We hear about, read about, and study about the Cost of Discipleship, but do we really understand what it means to follow Him?   Our salvation is merely a point in time.   He wants to “season” us to become a chosen vessel to be used for His purpose.   When

  “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” — James 5:16   I am writing about this scripture because I lived it!   A little over four years ago, I fell and broke my right arm. I had it X-rayed at the ER and they gave me sling and told me to follow up with an orthopedic specialist, which I did the next day. After his X-rays, he gave me the same diagnosis — a fractured right arm — and I returned back home again. Three days later, I was admitted to the hospital with acute respiratory failure. Long story short, there was more happening in my body that wasn’t caught, and unfortunately, it sent me into a serious downward respiratory spiral.   I was placed into a medical coma and put on a ventilator immediately. As time passed, I was eventually weaned off the ventilator and given a feeding tube, but the tube shifted upward one day and filled my lungs with the liquid food mixture. From there, I deteriorated very quickly. I was put back on a ventilator and contracted

  1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11   Have you ever heard the refrain, "Why is God punishing me?" Yes, religious people can suffer. The fourth chapter of 1 Peter provides a different perspective on suffering.   [Peter is recognized as the author of 1 Peter, and he names himself "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ." However, there are claims that this book is a work of Peter's followers in Rome between 70-100 AD.] The common belief two thousand years ago theorized suffering was a sign that God was angry with the individual suffering hardship. Instead, 1 Peter encourages Christians suffering insults and scorn for following Christ to rejoice and sing praises as they are truly blessed. That God genuinely loves His faithful and their suffering was a sign His spirit rested upon them. "But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are

  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.   Matthew 6:33     Brett's story:  Having been raised in church, and thinking I knew the Lord at an early  age.  I  really  can’t  remember a time I did not know Him as God, but not as my God .    During and after High school I ran with the wrong crowd, experimenting with drugs and alcohol to the point that I got high on something every day .   One night I had partied with a friend until 2:00am, I was driving under great influence on the way home. The steering of my car broke while traveling at a high rate of speed .    When I realized what was happening, I was on the straightest section of the highway, and was able to stop my car in the middle of the road, drift  off the  highway, and park  on the shoulder .  I asked myself - Did God just do  that?    Did he save me ?    I was instantly sober and made promises to him as I walked the mile or so home .     Sometime later, I was

  Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up  that which is  planted;  3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Men have now tried “The Grecian Formula” to “turn back the clock” on the aging process for two generations.   From the top of the head to the bottom of the feet, men have tried everything; elixirs to make hair grow back or dyes to cover the gray, creams to make your skin “come alive” and make age spots disappear, food supplements to grow testosterone and replace amino acids, pills to reduce your prostate and increase stamina to enhance sexual performance.   We drink fruit and vegetable smoothies that are laced with concoctions to enhance our physical stamina and extend our lives, to say nothing of stopping cancer and hea

Someone once said, “ Prayer  provides  power ,  poise ,  peace , and  purpose .” William Arthur Ward (December 17, 1921–March 30, 1994), an American motivational writer said, “ Prayer  is the prelude to  peace , the prologue to  power , the preface to  purpose , and the pathway to perfection ”. In Matthew 18:18 , Jesus said: “Truly I say to you; whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in  heaven : and  whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ” .   In Matthew 16:19. He said: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever  thou  shalt bind on earth shall be  bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ” .   Many of us are familiar with the concept of “binding and loosing demonic strongholds” as we pray over our lives, our loved ones, and others who have need of prayer.   While listening to a message from Dr. Kelley Varner, titled, “Seeing a New Heaven and A New Earth", he talked abou